As I walk the main streets of Flemington hither and yon, I am bound to meet the most Republican-Conservative-Libertarian (RCL) of folks on Main Street. And some of them are more “yon” than “hither”. I happen to meet one of them in the Flemington Post Office Saturday.
The line was holiday-season long (after all, Saturday was “National Chocolate Mint Day”, as well as National Hoodie Hoo Day”). A guy in front of me revealed himself to be of the RCL ilk with the following comment: “Boy, if we ever get Obamacare, this would be what it would be like get healthcare. We don’t need government run healthcare.”
Me (never able to resist replying to a RCL): “Well, if you have no health care at all currently, you never even get to wait on a line.”
The RCL: “Sure everyone has healthcare. It’s called the ‘Emergency Room.’ ”
Me: “Well, if cost is an issue, the Emergency Room is the most costly way to give everyone health coverage. And do you really want to burden over-stressed ERs with everyone’s health needs?”
The RCL: “That’s true. But instead of Obamacare, why don’t they just fix the problems with Emergency Rooms.”
Me: “OK, how do we do that?”
The RCL: “We need more and better government regulations.”
So it goes.
